1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dispensing seeds and insecticides and, more particularly, to electronically releasing agricultural product in close proximity to seed by sensing the passage of a seed through a seed transport mechanism and releasing the agricultural product, the placement of the seed and agricultural product being optimized in accordance with varying groundspeeds of the seed planter row unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In markets requiring the usage of chemicals, often hazardous substances, the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory bodies are imposing stricter regulations on the transportation, handling, dispersion, disposal, and reporting of actual usage of chemicals. These regulations, along with public health concerns, have generated a need for products that address these issues dealing with proper chemical handling.
To reduce the quantity of chemicals handled, the concentration of the chemical, as applied, has been increasing. This has raised the cost of chemicals per unit weight and has also required more accurate dispensing systems. For example, typical existing systems for agricultural product dispensing use a mechanical chain driven dispenser. Normal wear and tear on these mechanical dispensers can alter the rate of product applied by as much as 15%. For one typical chemical, Force®, a pyrethroid type insecticide by Syngenta Crop Protection, an over-application rate of 15% can increase the cost of the insecticide by $1500 over 500 acres and may contribute or cause unwanted crop response, such as plant phytotoxicity or unregistered amounts of pesticide residues in or on the crop.
Since many of the current agricultural product systems are mechanical systems, any record keeping and reporting must generally be kept manually.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in many present material delivery systems. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.
Over the past decade, planting and chemical dispensing systems for dispensing seed and insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, nutrients, plant growth regulators, or fertilizers, have made the handling of seed and chemical liquids or granules less hazardous to the agricultural worker by providing closed container systems, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,301,848 and 4,971,255, incorporated by reference herein and the SmartBox® System marketed by AMVAC Chemical Corporation, a division of American Vanguard Corporation. Briefly, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,848, access to and from a container in a closed container system is available through a single opening in the bottom wall of the container, offering distinct advantages over an open-top, non-removable container design in an open container system.
Closed container systems provide a removable container which is pre-filled with the chemical of toxic materials such as insecticides, fertilizers, herbicides and other pesticides or other agricultural products, thereby eliminating the need to open and pour bags of chemical products into storage hoppers. Since the closed container system is largely not open to the air, agricultural workers have less opportunity to come into contact with the chemical products, thereby reducing skin and inhalation exposure to the hazardous chemicals.
Currently, there is an industry program to double corn yields in 20 years through use of new technology. At the present time most products that are applied at planting are for the treatment of nematodes, soil insects, weeds in the seed zone, fungicides and bactericides, corn rootworm, secondary pests, etc. There is research being conducted for other products such as biological products, fertility products, fungicides, micro-nutrients, growth stimulants, the new area of RNA silencing or interference gene technology, etc.
Additionally, a steady decline in the overall honeybee population year to year is a growing problem worldwide. It has been reported that the air vacuum planters exhaust the insecticide dust from the seed treatment and it may be affecting the bee population. This effect on non-target species could be potentially reduced in a closed system.
Research has indicated that it is inefficient to use the conventional method of dispensing chemical granules, in which chemical granules are dispersed over an entire length of the seed furrow in which seed is planted. Instead, dispensing smaller amounts of the chemical granules of insecticides and other pesticides in close proximity to the seed not only obtains the desired effect of eliminating insects or pests, but also reduces the amount of chemical agent that is used to obtain such an effect. As such, the result is more cost effective, environmentally friendly, and less hazardous, while maintaining the desired effect of the chemical granules.
There is a need for a chemical dispensation system that more closely regulates the amount of chemical dispensed with the seed.
There is further a need for a chemical dispensation system that dispenses the chemical in closer proximity with the seed.
There is further a need for the placement of the seed and chemical to be optimized in accordance with varying groundspeeds of the seed planter row unit.